A known apparatus for this purpose includes a perforated plate through which the material is extruded and a multi-vaned or bladed rotary cutting tool which is mounted in front of, that is to say, downstream the plate. The cutting tool comprises a cutter holder and cutter blades. The cutting tool is surrounded by a chamber for collecting the cut granulated material. The chamber has, in use, a coolant liquid flowing therethrough.
In a further known apparatus for granulating fused or molten masses of plastics material or similar plastic compositions, there is provided a housing for collecting the cut granulated material and both the granulated material and the coolant water are discharged centrally from the housing.
When the apparatus is started up, the cutters cannot be used because the extruded strands may not have yet reached their full thickness or, alternatively, strands may not yet have emerged from all of the holes in the perforated plate. It is therefore necessary, at least initially, to pass the strands through the plate into the chamber withut being cut. It is therefore necessary to collect the uncut strands from the base of the chamber and to discharge them. Long individual strands, or strands which have become stuck together, very quickly cause the central discharge bore in the chamber to become blocked and, in consequence, result in considerable operational disruption of the apparatus.